Semi-porous coated cloth and articles made therefrom



March 22, 1955 H. GLATT 2,704,730

SEMI-POROUS COATED CLOTH AND ARTICLES MADE TI'IEREFROM I Filed Aug. 14,1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l GA; wage/s March 22, 1955 H. GLATT 2,704,730

SEMI-POROUS COATED CLOTH AND ARTICLES MADE THEREFROM Filed Aug. 14, 19532 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent SEMI-POROUS COATED CLOTH ANDARTICLES MADE 'IHEREFROM Herbert Glatt, Newark, N. 3.

Application August 14, 1953, Serial No. 374,199

7 Claims. (Cl. 117-98) This invention deals with the production of asemiporous plastic-coated cloth particularly useful in the production ofironing pad covers, interliners for garments, and other articles.

More specifically, the invention relates to the production of a plasticcoated cloth having applied thereto a controlled amount of solid coatingmaterial in a pattern wherein most of the coating material is depositedin the interstices in the weave of the cloth, giving a smooth surfacewith high reflective power as well as other highly useful propertieswhich will be outlined further.

Porous cloth has been made in the past in which the coating material issprayed on over the fibers in a manner such as to deposit the coating ontop of the fibers. Care is taken not to deposit such coating material inthe interstices of the weave to insure sutficient open area for adequateventilation. Such a cloth has an extremely rough surface, the roughnessbeing accentuated by the manner of application of the coating material.If such a cloth is employed as an ironing pad cover, for example, theroughness of the surface is transferred to the ironed surface as anembossing which is objectionable. Also, in the interliner field, thewearer of the coat or other garment lined with the coated cloth objectsto the rough hand of the cloth which is a serious obstacle from a saiespoint of view.

The structure of the cloth of the present invention is more readilyunderstood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1depicts a top view of a textile partially coated according to thepresent invention, while Figure 2 shows a cross sectional view of thecoated portion of the textile shown in Figure 1. A highly magnified topview of the coated textile of the present invention is illustrated bythe insert in Figure 3. Similar numerals refer to similar parts in thevarious figures.

Referring again to the drawings, numeral 1 represents a textile or clothwhich generally is of rayon (if it is used as an interliner) or ofcotton drill (if it is used as an ironing pad cover). The cloth fibers1' of textile 1 are woven so that the upper surface of the cloth 1possesses high spots 3, 3', 3", and low spots 11, the latter beingcaused by depressing a fiber 12 by a cross-woven fiber 13 (Figure 2).Between the woven fibers are the rectangular shaped interstices 4 whichgive the cloth most of its porosity.

In the present invention, the upper surface of the cloth 1 is coatedwith a controlled amount of coating material, producing a semi-porouscoated cloth 2 possessing valuable properties. Such a coating cannot beobtained by spraying a solution of plastic on the cloth, but is obtainedonly by friction spreading of a solution containing a controlled amountof solids dissolved and/ or dispersed therein. This friction spreadingis accomplished by knife coating, preferably by using a tension head.The knife clearance on the cloth is adjusted according to the viscosityof the composition applied, as is regular practice in the art, to givethe proper amount of plastic coating uniformly distributed over thecloth. In such a knife coating operation, most of the plastic mass ispushed by friction of the knife, away from the high spots on the clothsurface, into the interstices thereof. Roller coating or printing do notaccomplish this effect.

As is apparent from Figure 2, the thick liquid coating mixture 14 ispoured uniformly over the width of the cloth behind knife 8. As thecloth passes under the knife and in frictional contact therewith in thedirection of the arrow, a coated cloth 2 results in which the highpoints ice 5 of the surface comprise mainly impregnated threads overwhich very little excess plastic is deposited, the excess being pushedinto the low spots 11 and interstices 4 which are, generally, notcompletely filled with solid plastic, but are only partially filled.These interstices still retain small vents 7 for ventilation purposes.By solid plastic is meant the residue of the coating material 14 left oncloth 2 after the drying operation when the solvents are driven off bydrying in the conventional man- Idler, as by passing the coated clothover a drying roll or rum.

A highly magnified view of coated cloth 2 (Figure 3) shows bare highspots 5 in which individual fibers are impregnated with plastic, but aresubstantially free of any excess plastic, which excess is pushed intolow spots 6 and into the interstices'between the fibers, wherein thesmall vents 7 are still maintained. The sizes of these vents areexaggerated due to the fact that the strong lighting comes fromunderneath the fabric.

The presence of these small vents is important since they affordsatisfactory ventilation of the fabric. Their presence is insured bycontrolling the amount of solids in the coating uniformly distributedover the textile sur-' face. The term solids is used to signify thesolid material remaining on the textile as a dry coating afterevaporation of the solvents and hardening of residual liquid vehicles.

A suitable semi-porous coated cloth may be obtained, when the knifeadjustment of knife 8, for the viscosity of coating composition used, issuch that a uniform coating of about 0.3 to about 1.2 ounces of drysolids is applied per square yard of cloth treated. A preferred narrowrange of 0.3 to 0.9 or even 0.3 to 0.8 ounce per square yard givesexcellent results. The cloth samples are conditioned for four hours at72 F. at 65% relative humidity before they are Weighed. I

It is to be noted that ordinary coated cloth is coated with at leastover three or even over five or more times the amount of solids, sincethe purpose therein is to eliminate porosity and insure sufficientcoating thickness to avoid any possibility of penetration or waterleakage.

The coating material to be used consists of a hardenable plastic baseand a reflective pigment incorporated therewith. In the case of ironingpad covers, the plastic base contains a solid plastic of high heatresistance capable, in film form, of withstanding temperatures of 600 F.or even 650 F. (the highest temperature ordinarily encountered inironing).

At the present time, ordinary cotton or asbestos iron ing pad covers arebeing replaced gradually by plastic-. coated covers coated with aheat-resistant and usually heat reflective coating. When such plasticcoated covers were first introduced, it was found that the imperviousplastic coating prevented the venting of the steam formed during theironing of the moist clothing, thereby creating a drag. or resistance tothe ironing operation and tending to leave the ironed clothes somewhatdamp due to partial condensation of some of the steam.

These effects, in part, were overcome by mechanical perforation of thecoated cloth, as is shown in U S. Patent 2,570,110 issued to HerbertGlatt. This improved ironing pad cover was a decided improvement overthe, former covers but was expensive since a heavy plastic coating wasrequired and the perforation process was a slow and expensive operationto be added. Also, the perforations had a tendency to weaken the clothand cause raveling around edges of the holes upon prolonged use.Besides, there was some embossing by the perforations observed'when verylight weight fabrics were ironed thereon.

The present invention is a further improvement in this field in that itovercomes all of the objections to the coated perforated cloth andresults in further advantages, such as in enabling the use of lighterweight cotton ma-- terial for the cover, elimination of cracking of thecoating on folding over a prolonged period of time particularly instorage, as well as other advantages which will become apparent from thedescription which is to follow. 1 Al though closely woven cotton is thefavored cloth mentioned here for ironing pad covers, it is to'beunderstood. that other cloth such as rayon, partially acetylatedcotton,nylonjpolyacrylonitrile, polyester, and the like may be'used.

In the present invention, the ironing pad cover cloth is coated with athin semi-porous film of heat resistant plas tie, the porosity beingonly suflicient to -vent the steam produced-duringironing, yet thecoating being extensive enough to. protect the cloth beneath the coatingfrom thermal decomposition, enabling safe use of temperatures thereon ofat'least 100 F. higher than those which normally Would scorch the clothemployed as the base material for the ironing pad cover.

7 Heatresistant film-forming plastics now are well known and are incommon use. A munber of types prevail, practically all of them beingbased on thermosetting resins. The most common one employs a polyvinylbutyral resin base which may be cross-linked with phenol-formaldehyde,urea-formaldehyde, 'melamine-formaldehyde, glyoxal, or other typesof-heat-setting resins to provide adequate thermo-setting qualities.

A suitable composition forv giving a plastic film stable at temperaturesof 600 'or even 650 F. for short periods of time encountered in ironingis prepare in accordance with the following formulation:

Example 1 Parts Vinylite resin XYSG 15 Pigment (aluminum powder) 2Raw-castor oil l5 ".Flexol 3G0 Synasol 38 .Solvesso .No. .1 15

' .Total 100 Vinylite resin XYSG is a high molecular weight polyvlnylbu'tyral resin having an intrinsic viscosity of 1.16and'a specificgravity of 1.12. It contains approximately 54.4% vinyl, 38.3%butyrjaldehyde, 0.3% acetate, and 7.0% hydroxyl. 'The material is awhite powder sold by Bakelite Company, East 42nd Street, New York "17,New York, and is described in Technical Release'No. "1 issued bythatcompany.

Solvesso No. 1 is an aromatic solvent made by Standard Oil Company (NewJersey) having a boiling range of about"2'0027O F., consisting chieflyof toluene anda small amount of Xylene.

Flexol 3G0 comprises mainly triethylene glycol di- 2'-'ethyl hexoate, .aplasticizer made by Carbide 8: Carbon Chemicals Corp.

'fFSynasol'is a proprietary 190 proof denatured alcohol made by the samecompany. a

n Another :suitable coating, based mainly on thermosettlngphenol-formaldehyde as the heat resistant resin, has'thefollowingformulation:

Atomite'is a-clay filler which'may be replaced by dlatomaceous earth,bentonite, or the like.

Bakelite adhesive 'BJ-163'20 is a high molecular weight thermosettingphenol-formaldehyde condensation formulation'produced by 'Bake'liteCompany Division of Carbide CarborrCorp.

"Ifheaforesaid" formulations are only a tew of the manywhich'areavaila'ble commercially for such' use. It is'importantyhoweve'r, that the plastic coatingfor ironingpadcover--use,:thus :produced, bestable at temperatures of at least 500 *Bystableis meant the abilityto withstand the Ltemperaturespecifiedwithout'thermal decomposition whemsubjected forperiods'of timeencountere'd intlre ironing operation;

i Ani'dugtheplastihers whiehare compatible with polyvinyl'butyral andmay be used in the formulation, are

triethylene'glycold i--2 ethyl'bIItyrateQbutyI ester of poly merizedricinoleic acid, methyl ethyl ricinoleate, methoxy glycolacetylricinoleate, butyl Cellosolve phthalate, triglycol n-octoate,di-Z-ethylhexoate, o-toluene sulfonamide, p-toluene sulfonamide, ethylsulfonamide, methyl phthalyl methyl glycolate, butyl phthalyl butylglycolate, ethyl phthalyl ethyl glycolate, castor oil, etc.

Permissible'fillers may .be clay, diatomaceous'earth, silica gel,calcium carbonate, magnesium silicate, metal powders such as aluminum,bronze, magnesium or'copper powder, etc.

Although the alcohols are the best solvents for polyvinyl butyral,mixtures of alcohols with methyl ethyl ketone, acetone,'ethyl acetate,etc. can'be used. Diluents such as toluol, mineralspirits, and the like,may be added to reduce the cost. Small quantities of water may be addedto adjust viscosity which may vary within relatively Wide limits,depending upon the type of resin employed, fillers, etc. The amount ofreflecting pigment used preferably is about-4 to about 12 percent byweight of the dry coating (usually about 8%).

In the'case of the ironing pad cover cloth, after it is coated withplastic and dried (by means of heating rolls or otherwise), it isadvantageous to give the coating a light coating of a silicone polymer,preferably in the form of a 35% silicone polymer water emulsion (or lessconcentrated) which may be applied to the coated cloth by means of aflannel-wetted with the emulsion, thefflannel contacting the coating ofthe cloth as the latter leaves the drying roll. The'silicone compoundmay be a polymethyl silicone of about 200-300 centistokes viscosity at aF., sold under the designation SF92 by General Electric Company anddescribed in Silicones Product Data sheet dated March 15, 1952, issuedby the company. The emulsion is designated'as SM61 Silicone Emulsion bythat company, and is described in Silicones Application Data? sheetdated June 1, .1951, issued .by the Gen eral Electric Company. Theweight limitation of 0.4 to 1.4 ouncs of dry solds applied'per squareyard'of cloth treated also includes the silicone coating, if. suchis'applied.

'When the cloth is treated in the aforesaid manner, a

composition similar to that shown in Example 1, containing 8.16% ofaluminum powder pigment. The aluminum powder flakes are not representedin Figure 3 due to the fact that each particle'acts as a lightreflector,

so that a confusing effect would have been obtained,

However, the particles would be distributed "in the plastic coatingshown. The coating composition in Figure 3 was'applied on the cloth byknife'coating, the knifeclearance being adjusted so that 0.93 ounce ofdry solids were applied uniformly per square yard of material coated.

It will be observed from Figure 3*that the small openings present in theplastic pile-ups in the interstices between the weaves are in aratheruniformly'square'pattern. The partial filling up ofthe'int'erstices"'with the plastic produces avery smooth coated surfacewhich gives "no embossing evenjwh'e'nthe lightest'fabrics are ironedthereover. It will be noted here, however, that'if theamountotLsolids'per square yard is substantially -less than 0.3 ounce, thereis inadequate, protection of the cloth. particularly at the high points,so that scorching tendency approaches that of uncoated cloth.

In order'to determine the effectiveness 'of the semiporous clothdisclosed here n for use in ironing pad'covers, the following'testswereperformed:

A 59" width cotton. drill cloth was coated with a heat stable polyvinylbutyral'resin (containing 8.16% aluminum powder pigment, *based onsolids) similar to that obtainable with the formula inExample 2,together with a light silicone coating, outlined hereinabove,

and an ironing'pa'd coverwas made therefrom. The re sults werethencompared with those obtained with a conventional asbestos ironingpadicoverhaving about 20% of cotton thread used inholding' ittogetl'iercv A'cotton' sheet was immersedin Watendrip dried, and

ironed dry on each type of cover with an electric iron set at the cottontemperature (500 F.). An examination of the covers after the sheet hadbeen ironed revealed that the plastic coated semi-porous cover was dry,whereas the asbestos cover was slightly damp. The total time required toiron three articles (mens sport shirt, ladies blouse, and slip) wasfound to be as follows:

Minutes n semi-porous plastic cover 20 On asbestos cover 30 Time andTemperature, F. of Contact Cover Slight Scorch Appreciable ScorchSemi-porous 60 sec. at 450 F sec. at 550 F. Asbestos 30 sec. at 450 F--45 sec. at 450 F.

The tensile strengths of the two covers were determined by the GrabMethod, the warp and filling directions being assumed, with thefollowing results obtained:

Breaking Load (Lbs.) Cover Warp Filling Semi-por 153. 6 75. 6 A be tn38.4 51.4

As is apparent from the foregoing tests, the semiporous covers of thepresent invention are even superior to asbestos covers.

In the case of interliners for clothing, the reflective coating on oneside of the lining fabric serves to reflect the heat back to the body inthe winter and thus help keep the body warmer than it would be with anuncoated interliner. The lining material usually is closely woven rayoncloth, particularly rayon satin, although other cloth material may beemployed. The plastic coating containing the reflective pigment isapplied by friction spreading as already outlined. However, it is notnecessary in this case to employ a heat-resistant plastie for thecoating, and most hardenable or hard-whendry plastic materials would besuitable. Included as satisfactory are vinyl polymers such as polyvinylchloride, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinylidene chloride, alkyds, and thelike.

When the coating is applied uniformly in the amount of about 0.3 toabout 1.2 ounces of dry solids per square yard of cloth surface, and, inthis case partlcularly 1n the amount of about 0.3 to 0.9 ounce persquare yard, by the friction spreading technique, the hand of the hneris considerably improved, whereas there is still sufficient porosity toeffect adequate ventilation within the garment to prevent unnecessaryperspiration ordinarily caused by humidity increase within the enclosedarea.

As to the weave of the fabric to be coated, there is a limit as tocoarseness of the weave beyond which the products obtained would not besuitable for the purposes of the invention. In the case of ironing padcovers, suitable weaves have been found to be 84 x 28 and 78 x 32 (thefirst numeral referring to the warp mesh, and the second to the weftmesh). It is not desirable to go below 42 x 14.

This application is a continuation-in-part of Serial No. 302,947, filedon August 6, 1952, by Herbert Glatt.

I claim:

1. A ventilated cloth of improved surface smoothness and heatreflectivity comprising a sheet of closely woven textile, a thin,semi-porous, solid, hard-When-dry, non-penetrating, organic resincoating applied by knife coating substantially uniformly on the topsurface only thereof in an amount of about 0.3 to 1.4 ounces of drysolids per square yard of cloth surface, deposited mainly in theinterstices between the weaves of the textile but insuflicientlydeposited to completely fill said interstices, thereby forming smallvent openings in said resin coating in said interstices.

2. A ventilated cloth of improved surface smoothness and heatreflectivity comprising a sheet of closely woven textile, a thin,semi-porous, heat reflective, solid, hard-when-dry, non-penetrating,organic thermosetting resin coating applied by knife coatingsubstantially uniformly on the top surface only thereof in an amount ofabout 0.3 to about 1.2 ounces of dry solids per square yard of clothsurface, deposited mainly in the interstices between the weaves of thetextile but insufliciently deposited to completely fill saidinterstices, thereby forming small vent openings in said resin coatingin said interstices.

3. A ventilated cloth according to claim 1 in which the plastic coatingcontains a reflective pigment in amount sutficient to reflect asubstantial amount of heat away from the textile.

4. A ventilated cloth according to claim 2 in which the textile is acotton drill suitable for ironing pad cover use, and the plastic coatingcomprises substantially a plastic film-forming material stable attemperatures of at least 500 F.

5. A ventilated cloth according to claim 1 in which the textile is aninterliner for clothing.

6. A ventilated cloth according to claim 1 in which the amount of solidsin the plastic coating is 0.3 to 0.9 ounce per square yard.

7. A ventilated cloth according to claim 1 in which the amount of solidsin the plastic coating is 0.3 to 0.8 ounce per square yard.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,066,079 Shoub Dec. 29, 1936 2,176,053 Billing Oct. 17, 1939 2,196,655Borghetty Apr. 9, 1940 2,213,883 Lurie Sept. 3, 1940 2,405,703Mackechnie Aug. 13, 1946 2,575,577 Beauchamp Nov. 20, 1951 2,630,620Rand Mar. 10, 1953 2,673,824 Biefcld Mar. 30, 1954

1. A VENTILATED CLOTH OF IMPROVED SURFACE SMOOTHNESS AND HEATREFLECTIVITY COMPRISING A SHEET OF CLOSELY WOVEN TEXTILE, A THIN,SEMI-POROUS, SOLID, HARD-WHEN-DRY, NON-PENETRATING, ORGANIC RESINCOATING APPLIED BY KNIFE COATING SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORMLY ON THE TOPSURFACE ONLY THEREOF IN AN AMOUNT OF ABOUT 0.3 TO 1.4 OUNCES OF DRYSOLIDS PER SQUARE YARD OF CLOTH SURFACE, DEPOSITED MAINLY IN THEINTERSTICES BETWEEN THE WEAVES OF THE TEXTILE BUT INSUFFICIENTLYDEPOSITED TO COMPLETELY FILL SAID INTERSTICES, THEREBY FORMING SMALLVENT OPENINGS IN SAID RESIN COATING IN SAID INTERSTICES.